Railway-frog



N. W. BOYD. RAILWAY FROG.

(No Model.)

No. 462,297. Patented Nov. 3, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

NATHANIEL BOYD, OF CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILWAY-FROG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 462,297, dated November3, 1891.

Application filed July 3, 1891. Serial No. 898,350. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, NATHANIEL W. Born, a citizen of the United States,residing at Carlisle, in the county of Cumberland and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRailway-Frogs; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My present invention relates to improvements in railway-frogs; and thenovelty consists of the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts,which will be hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed outin the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan viewof arailway-frogembodying my present invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig.3 is an enlarged vertical transverse sectional View on the planeindicated by the dotted line 0000 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a plan view of aspring-rail railway-frog; and Fig. 5 is a transverse section on 1 y ofFig. 4, illustrating the adaptation of my present improvement to thisclass of frogs. Fig. 6 is a detail View of the slotted key in plan andedge View.

Like numerals of reference denote corresponding parts in the severalfigures of the drawings.

The present invention is more particularly designed as an improvement inthat class of railway-frogs which employa binder or clamp for holdingthe stationary rails in fixed position relatively to each otheras, forinstance, the frog shown in the patent to Richardson, No. 417,506, datedDecember 17, 1889; but such frogs are open to the objection of beingforced laterally, or yawning, under the heavy weight of a passing engineand rollingstock of the road.

It is the object of the present improvement to overcome this objection,and at the same time promote the general efficiency and durability ofthe frog and to simplify and cheapen the construction.

The invention consists in the combination, with the rails, the distanceor filling-in pieces thereof, and the clamp or binder having upturnedends, of a single continuous bolt which passes through the rails, theblocks, and the upturned ends of the clamp and provided with conicalheads which are countersunk in said upturned ends of the clamp, and aslotted key or fastening-plate having the bolt fittingin its slot anddriven between one end of the hinder or clamp and one of the filling-inblocks.

Referring further to the drawings, 1 designates the main-line rail, 2one of the side rails, and 3 4 the frog-rails. The main and siding railsare clamped together by binders or clamps 5 6, having the upturned ends7 and the bolts 8, said rails being held or spaced at proper distancesapart by the blocks 9. The frog-rails are spaced relatively to the mainand switch rails by the usual spacingblocks 9 10, and other blocks 11 12are fitted between the rails 1 2 and the upturned ends 13 of the clampor binder 1 1, which lies below the rails and blocks. A single bolt 15passes through the webs of the rails, the blocks, and the upturned endsof the clamp 14. The bolts 8 15 are not of the common ordinary form,with a head at one end and thread at the other end to receive a nut; buteach end of the bolt is provided with a conical head 16 17,respectively, which heads are fitted in countersunk openings 18, formedin the upturned ends of the hinder or clamp. The diameter of the openingin the upturned ends of the binderis smaller at the inner end than atthe outer end which receives the conical head on the bolt to prevent thehead from being drawn inwardly through said bolt-hole, and in practice Imay make one of the heads separate from the bolt and screw the same onthe end of the bolt after the latter has been passed through the railsand blocks, the parts being so proportioned and arranged that bothconical heads of the bolt will bind in the bolt-holes when the parts aretightened up.

A slotted key or fastening-plate 20 is employed to tighten up the frogafter the parts and bolt have been adjusted. This key consists of atapering tempered-steel plate, which is driven between one of the blocksand one upturned end of the binder or clamp. Instead of forming anopening orhole in the bolt to receive the key, which is the ordinarypractice, but which is objectionable, as it tends to weaken the bolt, Iprovide the key or fastening-plate with a longitudinal slot 21, thediameter of which slot is nearly the same as the diameter of the bolt,except at the frogis prevented from yawning or spreading.

In Figs. at and 5 I have illustrated the adaptation of my improvement toa spring-rail frog, in which 3 4 are the point or frog rails, l the mainrail, and 2 the movable springrail, which normally hugs the point orfrog rails. In this kind of frogthe binderor clamp simply inc-loses thefrog-rails and main-track rail, and the bolt passes through said mainand frog rails and the upturned ends of the clamp, the spring-rail lyingoutside of the frog 'railand the clamp. Theend of the clamp contiguousto the spring-rail fits quite close to the frog-rail and it lies withinthe vertical plane of the head of said frog-rail to obviate interferencewith the action of the springrail. (See Fig. 5.) T

The operation of my improved frog will be readily understood by thoseskilled in the art from the foregoing description taken in connectionwith the drawings.

I am aware that modifications can be made in the form and proportion ofparts and de tails of construction of the devices herein shown anddescribed as an embodiment of my invention, and I therefore hol-d myselfat libertyto make such alterations as fairly fall within the scope of myinvention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a railway-frog, the combination, with the rails, thefilling-blocks, and a binder or clamp, of a single througlrbolt havingits head countersunk in the clamp, and a slotted key which receives thebolt within itself, substantially as described.

2. In a railway-frog, the combination, with the rails, thefilling-blocks, and a binder or clamp, of a single imperforatethrough-bolt and aspring key or plate having a longitudinal slot whichreceives the bolt within itself,

substantially as described.

3. In a railway-frog, the combination, with the rails and thefilling-blocks, of a binder or clamp having its upturned ends providedwith countersunk openings, a single throughbolt provided with conicalheads which fit snugly in said countersunk holes, and a key,substantially as described.

4:. In a railway-frog, the combination, with the rails, thefilling-blocks, and a binder or clamp, of a single imperforatethrough-bolt and a wedge-shaped spring key or plate having alongitudinal slot of less width than the diameter of the bolt andreceiving the latter NATHANIEL WV. BOYD.

. Witnesses:

JOHN R. MILLER, W. F. SADoW.

